That hype fueled a boom in computer science majors, with the number of undergraduates more than doubling since 2014. But the coding-boom narrative has since collapsed, and a growing number of computer science graduates are finding few opportunities – some even ending up in fast-food jobs at chains like Chipotle.
“Learn to code” actually turned out to be very terrible advice.
Take the corporate media news matrix: According to Bloomberg data, the story count of “learn to code” exploded between 2015 and early 2021. Post 2021, those stories have dramatically subsided as reality sets in, and layoffs at major tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft, combined with the rapid adoption of AI coding tools, have left many graduates unable to land jobs, according to The New York Times.
“The rhetoric was, if you just learned to code, work hard, and get a computer science degree, you can get six figures for your starting salary,” Manasi Mishra, now 21, who was quoted by the NYT.
Mishra said in a viral TikTok video this summer that “I just graduated with a computer science degree, and the only company that has called me for an interview is Chipotle.”
The NYT pointed out that unemployment among computer science and engineering grads has risen as high as 7.5%, which is more than double that of art history or biology majors.
In a recent questionnaire, the NYT asked recent college grads from the Universities of Maryland, Texas, and Washington, as well as private schools like Cornell and Stanford, about their job searches. Some respondents said the tech industry had “gaslit” them about their career pathways, while others described the experience as “bleak,” “disheartening,” or “soul-crushing.”
Zach Taylor, who earned a computer science degree from Oregon State University in 2023, told NYT he applied to 5,762 tech jobs. He said this effort only resulted in 13 job interviews and no full-time job offers. He called the whole job search game “the most demoralizing experience I have ever had to go through.”
“Computing graduates are feeling particularly squeezed because tech firms are embracing A.I. coding assistants, reducing the need for some companies to hire junior software engineers,” the outlet said, adding, “The trend is evident in downtown San Francisco, where billboard ads for A.I. tools like CodeRabbit promise to debug code faster and better than humans.”
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